The Reunion Mission by Beth Cornelison

how shaken she was knowing that a bullet had only missed her carotid artery by a few inches. Keep it together .
    He scowled his discontent. “You can’t stay here,” he said at last. “You’re not safe until we figure out how Pilar’s location got leaked.”
    A chill shimmied through Nicole. Not safe in her own home? Two days ago, when she’d walked on U.S. soil again for the first time in months, she’d believed the nightmare was behind her. She’d been wrong.
    Nicole glanced at the dead man lying in the hall behind Daniel, and her stomach roiled. “So what do I do? Go to a hotel?”
    The front doorbell rang, interrupting any reply from Daniel. “This is the police. Open the door. We have reports of shots fired.”
    “I need to deal with the cops now.” He gave her shoulder a squeeze. “But I’ll be moving you and the girl to a safe house as soon as possible. Be ready.”
    A safe house? She opened her mouth to ask for elaboration, but Daniel spun away and limped on his bad leg toward the front door where the police knocked loudly. Nicole turned and staggered back into her father’s office where Sarah Beth and Pilar still huddled together behind the large desk.
    “Is it over? Is it safe to come out?” Sarah Beth asked, her face still pale with fright.
    Nicole held her arms out to Pilar, who tumbled into her embrace, and nodded stiffly to Sarah Beth. “The police are here, and Daniel...”
    She shuddered and tried to erase the image of the blank stare of the dead man in the hall. Daniel and his teammate had arrived just in time. She didn’t want to think about the lethal means they’d employed to save her, Pilar and Sarah Beth.
    Over the next couple hours, the police interviewed everyone at the scene, including the surviving man from the trio that had attacked the women. Nicole’s father arrived minutes after the police and surveyed the ransacked house in horror. Nicole rushed to her father and hugged him tightly, reassuring him over and over that she was unharmed, only shaken by the attack.
    Jake and Daniel showed the police their military credentials, and the preliminary ballistics assessment supported their claims of self-defense in the deaths of the two intruders. Pending an investigation, no charges were filed against them, but everyone, including Pilar, was required to accompany the cops to the police station so their hands and clothes could be tested for gunshot residue, along with other evidence collection.
    The first long shadows of evening stretched across the parking lot of the New Orleans P.D. by the time Nicole and Pilar were released to go home. Jake and Daniel, leaning on his crutches, met them on the sidewalk as they exited the police headquarters. Nicole assessed Daniel’s clenched teeth, the lines of pain and fatigue around his mouth and eyes, and concern burrowed past her own weariness. “You should go back to the hospital. You need rest and painkillers, and—”
    “No.” He shook his head, his eyes grim, uncompromising.
    “Daniel...”
    “No. We’re going back to your father’s place, but only long enough for you to pack a few necessities. Jake’s agreed to drive us to the safe house I mentioned.” He hitched his head toward the street. “His truck’s down here. Let’s go.”
    “Daniel, wait. Don’t I get a say in this?” Nicole squeezed Pilar’s hand and squared her shoulders.
    Daniel’s stern expression hardened further. “There’s nothing to discuss. These men— whoever they are, whoever sent them—aren’t going to give up just because this attempt to take Pilar failed. This is bigger than just an attempted kidnapping, and you’re in their way. They won’t hesitate to kill you to get the girl.”
    Nicole released a shaky breath, nodding. “I get that. But my father can hire men to—”
    Daniel’s chin jerked up when she mentioned her father, and Nicole hesitated. “Hold on. You can’t think my father had anything to do with this!”
    Pilar inched